I have heaps of energy and I love to do EVERYTHING, but what I often lack is Stamina ….Endurance. That ability to just keep going, muddling through even when you’re tired. You know those catch cries we see on Facebook and Insta ….keep going, you got this, hustle, we don’t need more sleep etc etc etc. I’m here to tell you that we are not all like that. Some of us DO need more rest. Some of us MUST NOT keep going. Some of us DO need more sleep. Some of us are still healing. Always healing.

5 bouts of Glandular Fever over a 15 year period has this way of completely nailing your adrenals. I’ve spent many years healing. And honestly ….I do believe that I’ve healed. But ask anyone that has healed from a condition or an ailment and they’ll tell you that management is key. Yeah, you’ve recovered but it will always be a weakness in your system. But there’s STRENGTH in recognising that.

I learned lots of lessons. Failed a lot too. But it’s taken me the longest time to recognise my early signs.

This weekend ….I saw my early signs. I’m tired. I’m teary. I haven’t slept well despite my best efforts. I feel short tempered and feel full of excuses as to why I should keep going.

I always feel tired at the end of a Canberra Summer. It’s like there’s no off switch to the endless socialising in Summer. We all know Winter is just around the corner so we enjoy life and friends and socialising and the outdoors as much as we can before hibernating for most of the Winter. But this year’s Summer started VERY early for us as we took off and enjoyed the end of the European Summer for 9 weeks before coming home to enjoy our own. I’ve backed it up with camping trips, hiking trips, weekends away with girlfriends, parties, soccer every weekend, late nights, working, getting kids settled in school and a crapload of gardening. This week, despite being tired, I’ve worked extra days, had my husband away for 6 nights (thank the universe for our au pair), been up to sick kids in the night, had a kid home sick, gotten up early for school days and markets, gone out to celebrate Skyfire in the cold, been working through some personal stuff that’s upsetting me, played soccer, nourished family and friends with meals and failed miserably at a sleep in.

Amongst all this, I’ve been slack with my self care. I haven’t been taking lunch to work. Instead I’ve opted for a handful of nuts and some dark chocolate. And I’m drinking more coffee than is normal for me. Ummmmm …..yeah that’s not gonna end well.

But you know what ….I’m really proud of myself right now. I’ve actually managed to listen to my body amongst ALL of these distractions, and realised that I need to put some things in place BEFORE I fall down.

Hence, Self Care Sunday. Instead of sitting on the couch this afternoon, I’m making myself some Asian Chicken and Broccoli soup for my work lunches this week. I made it earlier in the week for my Littlest as she was sick and a few people asked for the recipe so I’ve posted it here. I’ll freeze single portions of it to reheat and pop in a thermos each morning ….tick! And ….drumroll ……I’m gonna shave my friggen legs! For goodness sake …that kinda self care was needed weeks ago.

Yes, I’ll sit on the couch for an hour ….have a little knitty knit and then I’m going to ask for help to prepare dinner tonight. Asking for help ….now THAT is self care!

Melt the coconut oil and brown off some chicken thighs. About 3-4 minutes each side. Remove from pan, chop up and set aside.

Saute onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and anchovies until the onion softens. Add chicken broth and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add chopped chicken and broccoli and cook for 5-10 minutes (depends how cooked you like your broccoli). Then add asian greens and coconut milk or cream. Bring up to a simmer, add thai basil and the juice of 1 lime, stir and serve up immediately.